Doubts
by LockDown
Summary: After their first night together, Temari has doubts about their relationship. Shikamaru has to chase her doubts away. Prequel to Nara's Creed.


Temari gently brushed a few strands of hair out of her lover's face. It was so rare for him to have his hair down. In his sleep he looked so peaceful. Not bored or tired or increasingly burdened as the years had gone by. It was like for once he was content with his life and not having to carry the pressure that came with being the heir of one major ninja clans in the country. And he was hers… wasn't he?

As she had lain awake in the early hours of the morning guilt and doubt started to come up. She had changed the dynamic of the relationship literally overnight. Before last night the only real physical affection they had shared were a few pecks on the cheek from her to him. And last night she had practically forced herself onto him taking away both their innocence. She had the blood stained sheet and sore muscles to prove it.

It wasn't perfect but she was already 20 to his 17 and she had waited long enough she thought. She was highly unlikely to marry given her career and social standing in Suna so there was no point to living up to the social pressure of waiting until marriage that was the Suna custom. Instead Temari took a leaf out of Kohona's book and jumped Shikamaru without so much as a hello. She had taken his hand and dragged him to his place and stripped them both before jumping his bones.

And Nara being Nara, let Temari have her way with him and that was exactly what was causing her to have doubts. Never mind she had technically committed statutory rape on a minor, her diplomatic immunity would take care of that. It was the fact that Nara was always laid back when it came to her. Well according to his friends he was a lot more energetic the week before and after her visits. Though if he was energetic around her, Temari really didn't want to see the regular Nara Shikamaru.

He wasn't exactly lazy per say about their relationship, just really passive about it. He let her dictate just about everything there was to their relationship. When he was taking her to dinner, what to wear, what kind of food she wanted that night, if they were going dancing, etc.

Was it because she was older that he let her take the lead? Or could it be that she was unconsciously taking advantage of a younger guy that clearly had very limited romantic interaction with women? For Kami sake his only real look at the female side of the dating world was his teammate Ino. And for better or worse that example was a very demanding and controlling blonde that dictated everything she could get her hands on.

Between being a ninja and having to work just as hard as her brothers to get any recognition and having Gaara and Kankuro as brothers, Temari's own dating resume was just as depleted as Shika's. In fact he was the only person to ever take her on a date. Maybe because Gaara and Kankuro weren't there in Kohona to warn Shika off.

Even without her brothers, Temari never let anyone get close and with the one person that she has, she makes him work at it. Partly because she knows she can motivate him to reach his potential, something he refuses to see. Partly because she's assertive and is used to getting things done her way. And partly because that's how they have to manage their relationship in the open.

Liaison dinners, tours of the city even though she's seen it a few dozen times, help with paperwork that was done hours ago, anything to have a viable excuse to spend time with him while in town. Temari is sure the entire ninja community knows about Shika and herself but they keep up the pretense since ninja's from other villages don't mix like they do.

Was he humoring her? A lot of the other ninja's seemed to be because whenever she came up with some excuse to have him alone she could see the amused glint in people's eyes. Maybe it was part of his duties as a guide. It was extremely rare for a guide to offer such… services in Suna but values were a lot different here.

Would he be willing to go that far in the name of orders? A foolish question really. He had proven he was willing to leave his best friend behind in the name of the mission before. So was he simply placating her to keep up good relations between their villages?

Did he even like then? She knew he thought of her as "Troublesome" but given the tone and inflection he used when he said that in regards to her, she had come to think it was said with endearment, maybe even as a nickname for her. Was she really too troublesome to deal with?

It was then that Shikamaru started to wake up. Temari watched as his face donned the mask of being Shikamaru automatically before his eyes registered that it was only her laying next to him naked in bed. It gave Temari a little hope to watch that mask come off again, this time when he was awake.

"Morning."

"Hi." Shikamaru leaned in and gave Temari a quick kiss. "Last night was wonderful but can we be not so rough next time?"

"Next time? What makes you assume there will be a next time?" Temari teased as this time she leaned in for a quick kiss. The quick kiss turned into something a deeper kiss. Maybe that next time would come sooner then she had planned.

"Well if we were in Suna we'd be married now and there tends to be many a next time for married couples." Shikamaru said while peppering Temari's neck with kisses.

"But we're not in Suna and we're not married."

"Don't mean that I wouldn't want to marry you."

Temari pushed Shikamaru back far enough so she could look at his face.

"You're serious."

Shikamaru nodded.

"You'd marry me?"

"You would be troublesome and be the one to propose wouldn't you? Fair enough, I will marry you."

"Shikamaru I'm trying to be serious here."

"So am I."

"How can you say you'd marry me? You know what it doesn't matter. We have too many problems anyway to make it work out."

At this Shikamaru did get serious. "What problems do we have Temari?"

"Well for one thing there is the whole being from different villages thing, the threat of me being married off in a political marriage, that fact that you always make me to all the work in the relationship, and we haven't even said 'I love you' to each other!"

Shikamaru blinked in response to Temari's outburst. While an outburst from her wasn't all that uncommon, the emotion behind this one was. And because of that Shikamaru knew he had some major damage control to do.

"First off, I do love you Temari just as much as you love me. I thought you knew that but if you need me to be vocal about I will be." Shikamaru didn't give Temari a chance to say she loved him back. He knew she did. A girl of her upbringing didn't hop into bed just on a whim, even being a ninja and all.

"I'm sorry if you feel like you've done all the work in the relationship. It's just I figured that your previous boyfriends must have done something wrong so if you just told me what to do it was easier. Plus you're the only girlfriend I've had so I've had to learn as we went along. Also I'm generally really tired when you come by. I've had to taken so many extra jobs to be able to afford all the dates you demand."

"Afford? I thought the village paid for all that since you were my guide and all." At this point Temari cut Shikamaru off and watch him blush a little.

"Well I haven't actually been your guide since your third trip here. I've been pulling strings to get free time to be around when you come to town and working extra jobs in between. Mom won't let me use any of the clan's money since I'm 'dating' and not courting you officially. Mother is a bit old fashion that way."

Temari couldn't believe it. He, Shikamaru Nara, had been voluntarily taking extra work to pay for all their dates. That had to be the single most un-Shikamaru like thing he had ever done.

"Then I'm sorry for making spend so much money on me. I just thought the village was paying and came up with reasons to spend some time with you. And I've never had a boyfriend before either, it's just… I wanted to spend time with you and dinner between the liaison and her guide seemed like the best excuse to me." Temari said coyly.

"Don't be sorry. If I hadn't wanted that too I wouldn't have gone to all those dates. Now to get back to your list of problems, I really doubt Gaara would marry you off for his own political gain. Even if he tried to, I'm sure you'd either beat him into a pulp with your fan or I'd pull some strings to make him reconsider." Shikamaru grinned his smirk that he did when he knew something that other people didn't. More often than not it was something vital and that he was going to win because of it.

"You seem awfully confident in that for only being a 17 year old Chunin."

"Let's just say I have my ways and that I can't tell you about them. Clan secrets and all. Speaking of which, there is a way you could marry me and it would be totally legal and not cast any doubts about your loyalty to Suna or Kohona."

"Really? How?"

"Can't tell, clan secret. But it would have to wait until the Hokage steps down on Naruto's 21st birthday to hand over the reins to him. So if you don't mind a long engagement I could make it work out."

"Fine but I have a few conditions. No more smoking. You're telling your mother you are courting me so you aren't so tired when I come to town because you will be very tired by the time I leave. And finally, this time I'm on top." Temari said crawling on top of her fiancé.

A/N: Prequel to Nara Creed so go read that to see how Shikamaru revolves the classic problem of inter village marriages.


End file.
